Posts Tagged ‘earthquake’

The final update was received today from Jayu VU2JAU who has been keeping in daily contact with Satish 9N1AA on 20m. Their scheduled contacts have decreased in frequency over the last few days and closed at 02:30UTC today. This is the last known formal international link to stop operating following the ending of MARS communications support at 1100z 05 May 15 between T6TM in Afghanistan and Dr. Panday, 9N1SP.

Aftershocks continue in the area but the frequency of those events has reduced quicker than expected, however there are still vulnerable structures which are being worked on and the terrain means landslides remain a possibility.

There are still Radio Amateurs in the country for example Dale, BA4TB and Mi, BD4TR are part of the Chinese rescue team assisting in the aftermath of the earthquake. Their activity though is in their spare time on the HF bands and is being well advertised through the Dx lists.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and support during the radio amateur activities associated with this disaster. Individual organisations are now commencing their Debriefing process to see what can be done to improve the response next time.

Radio Amateurs continue to provide communications services in the aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal. While the pace of communications has slowed the international links which have functioned since the first hours of the disaster are still working though on a reduced schedule.

The ARSI Co-Ordinator for Disaster Communications in India VU2JAU praised operators Paddy VU2PEP, Sarath VU2SCV, Sanil VU3SIO, Dorrai VU2DVG, Tapas operating VU2IWA and Walidbhai A41LD for the time given for this operation and supporting him through into the night. He is now maintaining a schedule with 9N1AA every two hours should the needs change.

The Nepal – American link supported by the the MARS organisation in America with Ajay 9N1AJ providing the Nepal end of the link reported on 5th May. It is expected though that this link will reduce to a periodic schedule to keep the lines of communication open.

Within the country a repeater donated by CAN-USA which had been held up at customs is now reported by 9N1SP as released and now at Kathmandu University ready for deployment. While sad that this repeater was held up when it could have been useful with the current disaster, Nepal suffers a monsoon season starting in June and it is hoped that it will help the preparedness for future events.

An announcement is expected today ( Sunday ) of the official end of the international Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) phase with the expectation that USAR teams will start leaving the area shortly. It is however still the case that in rural areas it is taking 5-6 days to reach those areas to try and provide assistance.

Two Amateur Radio stations have started operating from some of those rural places. 9N3AA Jose operating from Damauli, District Gorakha and 9N1SD Akarshan installed at Sindhupalchowk. Both the areas are highly devastated and affected.

VU2JAU reported that all amateurs in India are coordinating well, he also makes special mention of A41LD Walid bhai who has supported them right from the first day.

Nepal previously depended heavily on mobile phones for communications (64% according to Wikipedia) and while restoring supplies to cellphonesites can be prioritised, power supplies for the citizens remain difficult. A requirement for 500 crank chargers was identified immediately which was passed on to all Indian Radio Amateurs who hope to be able to ship some crank chargers soon.

Many countries radio amateurs remain active in the area as the communications needs have not gone away. Teams certainly remain from India and China with some emergency traffic also heard in what was believed to be Russian on 14.300 on Friday.

Operations are taking place on a number of frequencies in the 40, 20 and 15m bands with 9N1SP specifically maintaining an international link on sked with the American MARS organisation.

All amateurs are reminded that emergency traffic may be heard on any
frequency in the Amateur bands as it is not always possible for the
Nepal stations to operate on the IARU Emergency Centre of Activity
frequencies. If you hear the words ‘Emergency’ please give the stations room to work.

The death toll in Nepal is now over 6,600 persons with a further 100 believed to have died in neighbouring India, Tibet and Bangladesh. The roads to the highly affected areas are closed and the rescue teams are also facing problem to reach on the spot to help people. They all are expecting the roads to open in due course. Satish 9N1AA is supposed to go to Langtang area to join the rescue team to locate people now that his operations on 20m have closed.

Sandip Baruha VU2MUE set up an APRS station in New Delhi and also connected one Italian APRS station in Nepal and exchanged massages. It is hoped to get more information regarding APRS from Sandip soon.

Additional Nepal licenses are now believed to be issued with 2 new callsigns issued 9N3AA, to OM Jose and 9N3RT to OM Ravinder. There are another 4 9N1 stations are in operation from different places. VU HAMs are continuously watching the operation from early morning to midnight and sometime after that also. We are thankful to get cooperation from VU2PEP VU2SCV, VU3TAH, VU3SIO, VU2BL, VU2DVG, VU3PUA, VU3SXN and myself VU2JAU.

Chinese Radio Amateurs as part of a relief team are now established Tinchuli,Boudha,Kathmandu on generator power. They hope to get their 9N7 callsign from the Ministry of communication on Sunday.

People are still looking to get their mobiles to charge so 100 mobile chargers landed there. 30 mobile chargers given in Sakal area, 50 given in Sindhupal chowk and remaining will be distributed in other areas.

Media interest in the Radio Amateur response remains high with the following items being seen over the last 24 hours;

Within the Amateur Radio community there is a greater interest in the emergency aspect of the hobby and anyone interested in finding out more should contact their National Co-Ordinators. In Region 1 their details are available here.

In all disasters there is a sad shift from search and rescue activities to one of recovery. In Nepal this transition is beginning with no further Search and Rescue or Medical teams being required to enter the country and those who are in already reaching the end of their normal planned 10 day period in the area. The situation in Nepal remains difficult but as international resources have been deployed, such as extra equipment from the ITU and the power situation in the country improving then the telecommunications needs change.

An example of this is the closure of the nets on 20m which had been focused on Kathmandu Radio Amateur Satish Kharel 9N1AA today. The situation having improved enough for him to have been interviewed in TV in the USA via a Skype Link ( Video available here ).

Other radio amateurs from India, China and Turkey amongst other countries remain in Nepal until their deployments end and the public communications systems are improving with efforts by the Nepal Police and other agencies to deploy solar chargers so the public can start using their mobile phones again.

The Nepalese authorities are reported to be offering licenses to visiting Radio Amateurs but they are taking a little time to process and the operators are given a specific Nepal callsign and are not allowed to use their home callsigns.

Dr Sanjeeb Panday 9N1SP has also been operating throughout the emergency following the protocols set in previous exercises with the MARS organisation in the Unites States and these operations have included the use of SSTV to pass pictures back to the US to assist the disaster response. Dr Panday’s operations continue to the best of our knowledge.

Any further missing person enquiries should be submitted via the Red Cross at;

This disaster has generated a large amount of positive publicity for amateur radio externally and hopefully interested more Radio Amateurs in preparedness and participation in Emergency Communications Programmes. The IARU Emergency Centre of Activity Frequencies have also been extensively used which is another positive feature.

As the time passes the situation in Nepal, hit by a 7.8-magnitude
earthquake over the weekend, seems to be getting worse. Many people are still buried in collapsed buildings and caught in rubble from landslides and there are fears that the number of deaths may increase above the estimated 5,000.

Rescue teams are moving away from capital of Kathmandu, to reach devastated villages near the quake’s epicenter.

National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, Jayu S. Bhide VU2JAU, reports that authorities have issued 9N7-prefixed callsigns to some visiting HAMS. He said there was very limited or no power and mobile towers down and mobile recharging was impossible. “In spite of the appalling conditions, the HAM radio operation is in progress and the Nepalese Government has started issuing HAM licences to those visiting HAMs, with callsigns that have the 9N7 prefix. “The authorities have asked for radio stations to be set up at different places to cover most of devastated areas. We are also requesting them to operate on different frequencies to avoid QRM,” said Jayu VU2JAU.

The whole of India has seemingly swung into action to aid the earthquake victims in neighboring Nepal, especially those HAMs who were rarely seen previously. Jayu VU2JAU, Suhas VU2SMN, Peddy VU2PEP Rakesh VU3PUA, Sarath VU2SCV along with some other HAMs have controlled the emergency communication, keeping the frequency busy with messages. They are also trying to get information on the missing people to inform their relatives. A list of 17 missing people from Maharashtra has been passed to 9N1AA, along with 67 others from various countries, with Nepalese authorities involved.

Lists should now be checked against the Red Cross or Google person
finder services at;

to ensure that use is made of the more complete casualty lists available from the Red Cross as they increase their relief activities.

The ARRL along with other groups around the world are trying to respond to the request for VHF handhelds and other equipment which has been passed over the 20m emergency nets. However the process to get even basic emergency supplies and Search and Rescue Teams into the area is hampered by restricted capacity at Kathmandu Airport and Customs procedures. The Nepal Government has signed a customs agreement for the facilitation of emergency relief consignments but even with this agreement in place ( which is solely for humanitarian shipments, not necessarily communications equipment ) the documents that must accompany any humanitarian shipment under the terms of the Agreement are:

The death toll of at least 4,300 people and tens of thousands are homeless following the 7.9 earthquake that hit Nepal on the weekend is still engaged in rescue and recovery.

The quake also triggered avalanches on Mt. Everest with many climbers killed or lost.

Jayu VU2JAU the National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in neighbouring India reported that after the first two days the rescue teams are still finding it difficult to trace the missing as well as those who are buried in the ruins.

He said all the officials and police department are working hard among the chaos to help people.

Jayu VU2JAU said: “More than 2500 people are reported to be untraceable.

As one of hotels was demolished where four doctors were staying, only one survived and is located in Red Cross camp injured condition. This is one case but many cases possible like that as the hotel must be holding many people.

“It was also reported that three places had landslides where casualties are expected to be more and the list may increase.”

He reported that people are stranded in many places like at the Airport, Base Camps, Indian Embassy and other places.

Nepal HAMs are facing hard situation. Now another two HAMs along with Satish 9N1AA and Suresh 9N1HA are supported by Pravin 9N1KK and Akarsha 9N1ZZ, along with VU2DMS joined them in operation,” said Jayu VU2JAU.

The Indian Embassy has arranged busses to evacuate people from various places.

Four buses from Mungaling to Birganj, but face two broken bridges on the way and passengers are required to change buses and walk. Another ten buses are running from Pokhara to Mungling since Pokhara reported maximum casualties.

Four HAMs from Gujarat left for Nepal headed by Zala VU2ZNN. They will be reaching Nepal today and set up stations at critical places.

Similarly a four-member team of HAMs are expected to reach tomorrow from North Delhi. Jayu VU2JAU along with Ananda VU2AGJ and Sandip VU2MUE have decided to set up HF and VHF stations at Gorakhpur on the Indo-Nepal border.

The rescue and recovery work is continuing after the devastating 7.8 on the Richter scale earthquake that claimed at least 2,700 lives, with many missing, and widespread damage in Nepal.

The Nepal Amateur Radio Society is providing emergency communications with their members reported to be active on HF emergency nets as well as on VHF/UHF to handle local traffic. Nepal’s first Amateur Radio repeater, set up in 2012 by the National Society for Earthquake Technology, had a dozen hams who previously engaged in simulated emergency tests.

The 9N1KS repeater 434.500 MHz in and 145.000 MHz out, is on the outskirts of Kathmandu with coverage into the Kathmandu Valley.

Satish Krishna Kharel 9N1AA reports that with help from VU2 in India and others work is continuing. Hams in India have been among the most active responders as parts of Eastern India also suffered earthquake damage.

Satish 9N1AA is using solar power in coordination with the Nepal police in Kathmandu sharing the emergency communications work with Suresh Upreti 9N1HA operating an emergency net on 20 metres on 14.205 and/or 14.215 MHz, has amateurs from around the world involved in message passing including requests for the status of friends and relatives in the disaster areas. Satish 9N1AA said information has already been provided on the status of about 80 loved ones of foreign radio amateurs and others. The 20m operational frequencies of 14.205 and 14.215 MHz have been chosen by the Nepalese stations as it appears they are clearer than higher in the band. Steps are being taken to improve the communications outside the area with Amir 4X6TT offered the facilities of Icelandic station TX4X to operate remotely as this is a low noise location with good antennas and propagation into the affected area.

Sanjeeb Panday, 9N1SP, has been operating on 21.360 MHz with Tim McFadden, KB2RLB/T6TM, a Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) member in Afghanistan. This operation followed procedures exercised with the American Military Auxiliary Radio Service ( MARS ) in 2013 and 2014 in which the emergency scenario was an earthquake in Nepal. Following news of the disaster MARS operators commenced scanning International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Global Emergency Centre of Activity frequencies for stations in Nepal. These frequencies were established as the places to pass emergency traffic in this kind of situation.

Please keep all these frequencies ± 5 kHz clear of *all* transmissions unless you are directly involved in contacts with Nepal.

With more than 17 Red Cross camps set up for affected persons and now that registration of survivors and casualties has commenced use should be made of the Red Cross or Google person finder services at;

There is no cross-border movement so far of radio equipment and radio amateurs with Satish 9N1AA specifically saying that DX hams operating in the area are only possible if they came across as part of a relief team under a government to government arrangement. It is known that amateurs are embedded in some relief teams already heading to the area and steps are being taken to ensure that their frequency usage is co-ordinated with the local response.

Additional radio equipment has been requested on the 20m nets and offers of equipment have been received from many countries to assist. Mobile network and some telephones lines were restored in the late evening along with power in some places and the International Telecommunication Union said on Monday it has sent emergency communications equipment to Nepal to help in the aftermath of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake. This includes 35 satellite mobile phones and 10 satellite Broadband Global Area Network terminals along with solar panels and laptops to help coordinate the relief effort.

It was terrible to bear as all of a sudden tremors of earth quack struck in the morning around 11.40 a.m. on 25 April 2015. It surprised all the people and everyone came out of their houses.
The tremor was experienced 2 – 3 times by all. In Gurgaon as reported by OM Kaustubh VU2UUU that all the 250 people evacuated the building to the safer place. After the effect was over all started their work. Immediately the emergency net was started on 14210 mhz. VU2JAU/AT150ITU was controlling the net. All the other HAMs came in to action soon. In Siliguri few buildings are damaged and a school building in Pokhara, where the epic centre of earth quack is damaged badly but no casualty was reported.

OM Suhas VU2SMN joined the net and helped a lot. OM Suhas VU2SMN remained with Jayu VU2JAU/AT150ITU till late night. Soon 9N1AA OM Satish and 9N!HA OM Suresh was contacted. OM Suresh said that he will be on HF in the night but till than OM Satish 9N1AA will be in communication on HF. OM Satish told that there is no power and all are facing problems to get sets on the air. It was advised that they have to transmit only when required with small over?s. He will be operating HF using 25 watts. He also reported that almost 2000 people are affected due to the earth quake having power of 7.7 RV strong. 15 Nepal HAMs are on VHF and are in contacts with each other from different locations. OM Satish 9N1AA is coordinating with Nepal police.

In India 50+ causalities are reported at different areas. It is also understood from OM Kaustubh VU2UUU that 4 companies of NDRF have left for the eastern India. It was announced to the DX HAMs that the emergency net is working on 14210 and all the DX HAMs put it on Cluster and on Social media. It showed its effect soon as the massages started pouring to find out people. More than 15 people were traced out who found to be in good conditions.

OM Suresh 9N1HA who was in Radio Nepal announcing about the missing persons and helping all.9N1DX YL Tej also supported with OM Satish 9N1AA. At 22.10 tremor of 4.5 Rv was experienced and all the people came out of their houses. It was also announced that the tremor will be repeating after each 1.30 hrs so everyone have to stay out for 30 minutes.
Power restored at 2.30 a.m. on 26/4/2015.

OM Amer 4X6TT joined all the HAMs on emergency net. He informed that Turkey HAMs are ready to send HAM equipments to Nepal. OM Amer 4X6TT helped to keep the frequency clear as so many DX stations were working. it was also reported from Spain that 15 people along with medical equipments will be reaching Nepal next day. The DX HAMs supported during the operation are T6TM OM Tim, 4X6TT OM Amer, ZL2TZE, CT7ACG and VK land. The VU HAMs are VU2UUU, VU2DED, VU2DPI, VU3MDL, VU3UNO, VU2VV, VU3GAO, VU2AGJ, VU2SMN, VU2DFB, VU2IWA, VU3PUA, VU2RIY, VU2IVV, VU2UPQ and many more. Myself along with OM Suhas VU2SMN and OM Rakesh VU3PUA stayed on the band whole night for emergency communication net. Our stations are working with no break.

The rescue and relief efforts after Saturday’s southwest China Ya’an earthquake is continuing with the number of lives lost officially at 188 people, 25 are missing and 11,460 injured.

While radio amateurs continue to help with relief efforts, Fan Bin BA1RB says that public communication is back to normal in the disaster area.

He said the CRSA/CRAC no longer required 3855kHz, 7050kHz and 14270kHz as emergency communication frequencies. It expressed thanks for the support from IARU member societies and others during the disaster.

It rained in the earthquake area last night. Effective traffic control has been very important to transport tents, water, foods and medicines into the area.

The rural communities around Ya’an city are along the same seismic fault where the Great Sichuan Earthquake killed more than 90,000 people five years ago, in one of China’s worst natural disasters.

The latest earthquake on Saturday left tens of thousands of people in tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back as aftershocks continued.

Badly hit Lushan County is now a large refugee camp, with tents set up and volunteers providing meals.